


One Step Heavy and Two Steps High

by barricadebastard



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drunken Shenanigans, Fluff, M/M, One Night Stands, and i really wanna write more ships for them, at least thats what alex thought, but i'm also way too focused on burrcules soooooo, i love alex/herc, idk how to tag help, pls dont ask me why i chose that title
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-09
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-07 11:56:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8799916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barricadebastard/pseuds/barricadebastard
Summary: Alex wakes up in an unfamiliar bed.





	

**Author's Note:**

> okay so i actually wrote this because i had an hour left to kill at the end of a mock exam. idk if other ppl have it but you know those small pieces of card on every table that say whose seat it is? i filled both sides of it in tiny font and then finished the rest on my arm. true dedication.

Lights.

Loud voices. Shouting. Singing?

Too many people. Cramped. Sweaty bodies, writhing like snakes. Too many, too many, too many.

Talking. Lots of words, spoken too fast.

Too bright. Too many lights. He couldn't see.

Liquid sloshing in his cup. Liquid sloshing onto his shirt. Alcohol?

Music. Thumping bass, catchy beat. No words. Just music and swaying bodies.

Lights, lights, lights. Flashing lights.

A man.

Somehow, when Alex's eyes flutter open again, he was lying in a soft and unfamiliar bed, safely cocooned in a pair of strong, dark arms that were tight around his frame as though trying to protect him from the world. Waking up in a stranger's bed was not something he was wholly unfamiliar with, but the unabashed spooning was definitely new.

He blinked blearily, trying to remember how he had got there and what had happened the night before, but his mind came up blank. He was still wearing a t-shirt and pair of boxers, but he was distinctly aware of his lack of pants. His head was thumping painfully, and he yearned for some painkillers to numb it. He could barely think through the headache. His mouth felt unusually dry and kind of disgusting. Okay. So… he had gotten drunk last night? But where was he now?

Before he could even consider panicking about his unknown location and missing clothing, the man that was holding him so tightly began to stir, his body shifting against Alex's own. Alex froze, praying to whatever deity that was listening that the man would not wake up. It appeared that God pitied him for because the heavy snores returned to filling the otherwise silent room, and the chest that was pressed flush against his back continued to rise and fall in a soothing rhythm that began to lull Alex back to the warm safety of sleep, where nothing could hurt him and all pain faded into a dull throb that was left to be dealt with later on in the morning.

But Alex couldn't sleep, not when he still couldn't remember how he had gotten there. He rarely got shit-faced, hated the uncertainty and blank memory that came the morning after, and the painful hangovers that followed were never something Alex particularly cared for. He usually limited himself to a few sips, maybe two drinks, nothing too strong. After all, he needed his wits about him at all times. And he _certainly_ didn't have his wits about him now, in an unfamiliar place with no memory of what had happened last night.

Had he been drugged?

No, he remembered now. They had been celebrating some case that John had been particularly passionate about, something about turtles and natural habitats. John seemed to only be truly happy when talking about his non-profit organisation. He had been ecstatic, with a wide grin stretching across his face the entire day and offering to pay for all their drinks. Alex couldn't help but go along with the flow - and free drinks - especially after his difficult workload recently. It had been nice to take a break. Of course, he was regretting it now.

The stranger shifted again and Alex - who was now more awake - felt his breath catch in his chest. But, after readjusting his arms around Alex’s waist, the man fell back asleep again. Alex breathed a silent sigh of relief. He knew how awkward morning-afters could be, and he wasn’t about to make to even worse by waking up in the arms of the man he had slept with last night. That was a line he was _not_ willing to cross any time soon.

He squirmed out of the stranger’s arms, careful not to jolt him awake. The room was slightly chilly, and it appeared that one of the windows was open. He was suddenly reminded of his lack of clothing and he found himself missing the toasty warmth of a morning snuggle almost immediately, but he pushed this aside as he began working on getting out of the bed. With any luck, he’d be able to be gone by the time the man woke up, the only evidence of his presence the dip in the side of the bed and maybe a note.

Unfortunately, the bed was placed against the wall – who even did that? – and Alex’s only option of escape was to clamber _over_ the stranger. It seemed impossible, but Alex was light and lithe and very desperate to disappear. With steely determination, he turned around to look at the face he had, so far, been avoiding looking at.

 _Shit,_ he had hit the jackpot last night. Alex had to bite his lip to stop himself from taking an audible gasp. The dude was _hot,_ even when he was drooling slightly on a pillow. How the hell could someone look attractive whilst drooling? This man managed to pull it off somehow, and Alex was too in awe of his beauty to even consider being envious. A broad body, muscled arms that made Alex’s mouth water, strong features, dark skin and gorgeously thick lips… Alex _definitely_ didn’t regret his choices in sleeping partners.

Okay, no distractions. He needed to stop admiring the pretty man’s face and start getting the hell out of there before he got too attached.

He worked first on getting one leg over the man’s body, and managed to land it over on the other side without hitting him. Thankfully, the bed was pretty large, and there was enough space on the other side for Alex to get off safely. He could do this. Next, his arm was placed on the other side of the man’s head, so that he was on his hands and knees directly above him. Some of his hair had managed to escape his ponytail during the night, and several locks fell into his face, obscuring his view. Alex cursed under his breath, and lifted a hand to brush it away. However, just at that moment, the stranger chose to shift in his sleep, and Alex’s other hand - the only thing keeping him up - was knocked away. Alex collapsed with a startled yelp, landing on the man’s chest.

“What the-” a gruff voice murmured, as two brown eyes blinked open and stared in confusion at the small man that was now lying on top of him. Unfortunately for Alex, the stranger was even more attractive when he was awake and in such close proximity, and he could feel his cheeks burning as he began to stammer excuses.

“Shit, uh, sorry, I was just trying to, um, get out, but my arm slipped and I fell, I swear I didn’t mean to-”

“Dude, it’s fine,” the stranger said, still looking somewhat confused. “Uh, are you okay?”

“Yep,” he answered as he scrambled away from the man. His haste meant that his foot got entangled in the bedsheets, and he almost tripped when he tried to get off the bed with one foot still trapped. Cursing his gracelessness, he yanked his foot away and began to gather his discarded clothes from the floor. “Name's Alex. Alexander Hamilton. And you are?”

“Herc,” was the short answer that came. “Are you leaving already?”

Alex looked up, quirking an eyebrow. Herc had propped his head up against his arm, and was watching him with the dazed expression of someone who had been awoken too suddenly. Normally, all of Alex’s one-night stands wanted him out of their door as soon as possible, and yet Herc sounded… surprised? Perhaps a little disappointed, though that might have been wishful thinking on Alex’s part.

“I feel bad about not letting you have some breakfast or something,” Herc added, and oh, so not only was he ridiculously and unfairly attractive, but he was _nice_ too? Alex was going to have to keep him.

“Breakfast sounds nice, actually,” Alex commented as casually as he could, shooting Herc a flirty smile. Well, as flirty as he could with rumpled hair and his jeans still in his hands.

Herc nodded, and shot him a grin that could have made even Beyonce swoon. His smile revealed two rows of perfectly straight white teeth, because of course even the most minute details were flawless. The covers were peeled back and Herc got out of the bed with much more grace than Alex had managed. This, unfortunately, revealed a dishonourably tight shirt that stretched across his chest and left very little to the imagination. It would take a greater man than Alex to _not_ stare at the masterpiece that was displayed in front of him, and it wasn’t until several seconds later that he realised that Herc was watching him with a confused, if slightly amused, smile. Shit. The hot dude caught him staring.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, cursing himself as he looked away hurriedly. Why did he always have to embarrass himself in front of the most attractive people on Earth?

“It’s fine,” Herc said, dismissing it with a wave of a hand and making his way across the room. Alex paused, before realising that something wasn’t quite right.

“Didn’t we have sex last night?” he blurted. He really should have found a more eloquent way to say it, but it was early and he had a hangover, and he wasn’t nearly as smooth as he normally was when around attractive people. But Herc was fully clothed, and Alex still had his shirt on the wrong way around, just like he had when he left to go to the bar with John, which lead him to the conclusion that he hadn’t taken it off at all.

Herc looked surprised, turning to face him again. “No. You don’t remember last night?”

“...Not particularly, no. Why, what happened? And why was I in your bed if we didn’t have sex?”

Herc dragged a heavy hand, looking somewhat sheepish. It was rather cute. “We met at the bar. Laf invited me to celebrate with you guys, and he had been telling me about you for a while so I thought I’d see what all the fuss was about. And then we had an argument. About dogs.”

“But I hate dogs,” Alex said immediately. Herc laughed.

“Yeah, that’s what the issue was. You tried to punch me in the face.”

Well. Not surprising, but Alex couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

“Shit, man, sorry,” he said, looking down. “I don’t drink all that often, and I think I went over my limit last night.”  

“Don’t worry about it,” Herc said with a wide grin. “You’re pretty cute when you’re angry anyway.”

Oh. _Oh._ So, not a completely lost cause then.

“Then you insisted that you had to anti-dog my home, so I took you to my place. You sounded like you were muttering some weird ass incantations and shit, so I left you to it, and then I found you half-asleep in my bed. You, uh, wanted to snuggle.”

“God,” Alex blurted, covering his face with his hands. And just as he thought it couldn’t get any less embarrassing. He was well aware for his own affinity for touchiness, but his desire for affection was usually satisfied between his best friends, and occasionally strangers that he was sleeping with. But now he had gone and demanded to be cuddled by some stranger that he had been harassing just because he happened to like dogs. It didn’t help that Laf had already spoken about him to Herc. Laf, whilst completely well-meaning, had an unfortunate tendency of exaggerating and making people seem a lot better than they actually were. Herc had probably had high expectations of the Great Alexander Hamilton, and had ended up with a drunk, slobbering weirdo who hated dogs with such passion that he followed a dog-lover home and began trying to use magic wards like they were in Harry Potter or something. “I want to die so much right now.”

“...So, uh, pancakes?”

By the time Alex left, it was with a full stomach, a scrawled number, and a pretty interesting story to tell.  


**Author's Note:**

> exactly 2k. boom. man, i really need to write more herc/alex fics. just imagine all the cuddles
> 
> tumblr is [hhhercules-mulligan](http://www.hhhercules-mulligan.tumblr.com), insta is [dreamers_and_schemers](https://www.instagram.com/dreamers_and_schemers)


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